Article holder



Dec. 5, 1933. A. BUTTERMAN 1,938,414

ARTICLE HOLDER Filed Oct. 19, 1931 2 ii I 1 1 1, I m 7 5 4 M @z H1 7 j/ifi H i" L l2 2 ll 7 m H I w VENTOR 44% ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 5, 1933 UNITED STATES PATEN'Il OFFICE 1 Claim.

The invention relates to an article holder designed moreparticularly for temporarily holding cans, bottles and similar containers in position adjacent the uprights of shelvings such as .are

5 commonly used in retail stores to receive the articles on display.

The primary object is to provide a holder which will enable articles of the above nature to be easily and securely held in stacks disposed in front of the upright, and readily removed from the stack when desired. 7

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically pointed out in the description hereinafter contained, which when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, discloses a preferred form of the invention. This forrhhowever is to be considered as merely illustrative of its principles.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing a stack of articles held in position as above mentioned, by means of a number of article holders constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 3 is a detailed view showing the inner face of one of the end portions of the form of holder illustrated in Fig. 1.

The invention is illustrated as applied to a store shelving of ordinary type wherein an upright support 1 is used in conjunction with any desired number of shelves 2, and rests upon the upper surface 3 of a cabinet or the like upon 35 which it is desired to support a stack of articles 4, such as cans, etc., the latter being held in position in front of the upright 1 so as to conceal the latter and prominently display the ar ticles contained in the stack.

The specific construction of the illustrated form of article holder is shown more in detail in Figs. 2 and 3; as shown the article holder has opposed end portions 5, which are spaced to receive the upright 1 between them and one or both of these end portions are provided with inwardly projecting prongs 6 adapted to be pressed into the wood of upright 1 and to detachably secure the holder in position with respect thereto. Where the holder is made of strip metal, as hereinafter referred to in greater as above described. Usually it will not be necessary to employ one of the holders for every article in the stack and it will be understood that the holder may be readily unfastened whenever it is desired to remove the article held thereby.

I prefer to construct the holder of flexible resilient strip metal, which may be tempered if desired, in such manner that the end portions 5 of the holder are urged toward each other and thus tend to stay in proper engagement with the upright 1; and the intermediate portion 7 of the holder will then likewise tend to stay. in

good frictional contact with the sides of the article to be held. It will be understood, however, that in a broader aspect of the invention, it is not necessary that the bight-like portion '7 of the holder be made of the same material as the end portion or portions (if two are used) of the holder.

While a specific form of the invention has been described, it should be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim: I

An article holder adapted to hold articles against lateral shifting from a stacked position adjacent an upright, said article holder comprising a thin metal strip having an intermediate bight-like portion adapted to extend around an article to be stacked, and end portions extending from said intermediate portion adapted to receive an upright therebetween, said end portions having opposed prongs adapted to penetrate into the respectively adjacent faces of an upright, said strip being flexible and resilient whereby said end portions are adapted to grip an upright yieldingly therebetween.

ARTHUR BUTTERMAN. 

